Gov. Gavin Newsom plans to unveil a sweeping package of legislation and sign an executive order Friday to make it easier to build transportation, clean energy, water and other infrastructure across California

a move designed to capitalize on a cash injection from the Biden administration to boost climate-friendly construction projects

.

The proposal aims to shorten the contracting process for bridge and water projects, reduce timelines for environmental litigation, and simplify permitting for complex developments in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and elsewhere.

All in all, government officials hope the package can speed up the project

are

building with more than three years and reducing costs by hundreds of millions of dollars in effort, they say

is his

necessary to achieve the aggressive climate of the state

change

goals.

Newsom previewed the proposal at an event Thursday in Sacramento

,

call it

,

“the most ambitious streamlining and permitting and judicial reform in our state in half

–

centuries.”

This is a profound moment, Newsom said.

Newsom is expected to formally announce his plan,

composed made up

of 11 bills, at a press conference Friday morning in Stanislaus County.

Administration officials said they want to include the package in the 2023-24 state budget, which must be approved by both houses of the legislature on June 15. Lawmakers are currently negotiating the final details of the tax blueprint with Newsom’s office.

Central to Newsom’s plan is the California Environmental Quality Act

or CEQA

a polarizing 1970 law credited with helping

Unpleasant

preserving the natural beauty of the state

,

but often criticized for letting needed housing, energy and transportation projects fail in lawsuits.

The proposal makes no major changes to the law, which requires government officials, agencies and developers to broadly consider and disclose a project’s effects on the existing environment. Rather, it seeks to limit how long CEQA lawsuits can take to court.

The proposal aims to prevent lawsuits against certain water, transport, clean energy, semiconductor and microelectronics projects from lasting longer than nine months.

Eligible projects, state officials said, include the governor’s $16 billion plan to build a tunnel to transport water to Southern California under the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, water recycling and desalination plants, solar fields, offshore wind farms and energy transmission.

The idea is similar to procedures already in place that have helped accelerate the construction of NBA arenas in San Francisco and Sacramento, as well as other mega developments across the state.

Additional CEQA changes to the plan would give government agencies more control over deciding what is needed in a project’s official administrative record and overturn a recent appeals court decision that banned the inclusion of internal emails as part of that record. required. Litigation over the mail issue involving a major residential and commercial development proposal in San Diego County dragged on nearly two years after it was approved.

Debates about speeding up the states’ slow process of building major infrastructure have been going on for decades. Major reforms have often failed in the thicket of environmental, development, local government, and labor interests that influence the Capitol. Newsom said on Thursday his administration has led an organized effort to get advocacy groups on board.

Gayle

Miller, chief deputy director of policy at the Treasury Department, said

T

he Times said the plan provided a “reasonable approach” to addressing CEQA.

“We’re not trying to destroy our environmental protections in California, but we’re definitely trying to say enough is enough,” Miller said. “We must move forward and transition the state to its clean energy future.”

Newsom said it was essential to make changes now because of the $180 billion in state and federal funds

It is expected to be available for infrastructure in California in the next decade, an amount increased by allocations from President Biden’s signature infrastructure and climate change laws.

It’s one of the most important investments in California history, Newsom said. The only thing standing in the way is the world we make up.

to kick

–

kicking off this process, Newsom is expected to sign an executive order instructing various government agencies to work together and establish an infrastructure attack team, which will theoretically focus on projects that need to be completed and ensure that they finish.

The newly available federal dollars also include a lot of clean energy and other competitive subsidies. For California to win, it has to show the federal government it can deliver, the governor said.

news sum

a democrat,

said those investments could be jeopardized if discussions in Washington over whether to raise the debt limit turn sour.

GOP

Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy

(R-Bakersfield)

said Republicans would only agree to raise the limit if Biden agreed to reverse certain provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act, which includes ambitious climate plans and funding for infrastructure projects.

If Kevin McCarthy has his way, it will stop us, Newsom said Thursday. What he promoted would have a devastating impact on our progress.

Other elements of Newsom’s package would remove the contracting barriers government agencies face when starting and ending their projects.

Newsom wants to allow the State Department of Water Resources and the California Department of Transportation to use a more flexible contracting process for up to eight complex projects each, which could streamline construction and reduce logistical issues that cause delays. Another proposal would allow the transportation department to use a simpler contract contracting model that could cut months off a project’s timeline.

The departments could use these streamlining tactics to more quickly build bridges or modernize dams, repair aqueducts or maintain the state highway system. The package would also accelerate three planned wildlife crossings along Interstate 15 in San Bernardino County.

The final part of Newsom’s plan would streamline Caltrans’ environmental mitigation efforts and allow projects that impact endangered species or are within the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.